Pick counter for looms



May 26, 1925. I 1,539,686

A. H. MORTON PICK COUNTER FOR LOOMS Filed Dec. 21, 1921 Patented May 26, 1925.

UNITED STATES.

, 1,539,686 PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT H. MORTON, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO MORTON & MORTON, INC, 01: LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

PICK COUNTER FOR IDOMS Application filed December 21, 1921. Sertal 110. 523,984.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Anmzn'r H. Moirrox, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and State ofltlassachusetts, have invented certain 'newand useful Improvements in lick Counters for Looms; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it it pertains to make and use the same.

' Tic present invention relates to an improvement in pick counters for looms.

In many weave sheds it is thepractiee, where automatic weft replenishing looms are employed, to pay the operative by the run. As a check on the work of the operative pick counters are employed on such looms, and these counters are read from time to time. \Vhen two or more shifts of operatives work on the same looms, it-is necessary that. the pick counters he read at each change of operatives. lierctot'ore. it has been the practice, with the pick counters which have been in use. to read the counters at regular intervals of, say, a week. But when two or more sets of operatives work on the same looms, this requires that the counter should he read and a record made of its reading at the end of each shift. In large weave. sheds, this requires a consider able. amount of time. and the object of the present invention is to produce a pick counter having a plurality of counting mechanisms and a gearjshit't to shift the counting from one mechanism to the other. Thus, for example, when the dn v operative. leaves his loom, he leaves it running, count ing picks on one of the counting mechanisms. Then, when the other operative comes on, he shifts the gear so that the picks are counted on the other counting mechanism. The operative may safely be relied upon to see to it that the pick counter is shifted so as to count the picks made by the loom duringhis attendance.

The object. of the present invention is to produce a pick counter having a pluralityof pick counting mechanisms and a gear shift for shifting the counting from the. one to the other mechanism, so that the work of a plurality of operatives may be registered by the counters. To this end the invention consists in the pick counter herein -vice; and Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation,

showing the two pick counting mechanisms and the shift gear between.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention is described as follows: The pick connter 1 is attached by screws 32 to a bracket 2, secured to the arch of the loom. It is connected by a flexible shaft 22 encl sed in-' an armored casing3 with the lay shaft of the loom, a hand wheel 4. on the lay shaft being shown. The pick counter consists of a frame 10, carrying two counting mechanisms .11 and 12, the former forcounting the picks for the day operative, and the latter for counting. the picks for the night operative. A shift gear 13 is supported on a shaft in a hearing which as here shown is an eccentric opening in a: sleeve 14, which sleeve is' adapted to be turned from the position shown in F ig.' '3, in which the handle 15 attached to the sleeve 14 is shown at one limit of its movement, in which the geardil engages the driving gear 16 of the day counting mechanism, to a lower position in which the gear 13 engages the gear 17 of the night counting mechanism by movement oi the-handle from the position shown in Fi". 3 to a correspondingly lower position, which moves the bearing for the drive shaft carrying the pinion 13 downwardly, so that the gear 13 engages the gear 17. The sleeve 14 is provided with two re- I eesses 20, which are ada ted to be cngaged by the spring pin 21 or the purpose-of holding the sleeve in either of its two operative positions. It is to be noted that the distance between the gears 16 and 17 of the two counting mechanisms is such that the gear 13 is entirely withdrawn from mesh with the gear 16 before it enters mesh with the gear '17, so that both counting mechanisms can never be operated at: the same time. The shaft of the gear 13 is driven by a flexible shaftQ"). which is attached to the end of the shaft of the gear 13, and serves to drive it. The flexible shaft 29. is encased in the flexible armored conduit or casing 3. On the shaft'ofthe loom is mounted the usual hand wheel 4, and beyond it is mounted' the reducing mechanism 30, which is connected to the flexible shaft 22. The reducing mechanism 30 is held from rotation by the armored casing. This reducing mechanism may be of any convenientform; for example, it may be of such form as to'transmit to the flexible shaft 22 one rotation for each thousand revolutions of the lay shaft, as a result of which the counting mechanisms read in thousands of picks.

The armored casing 3 is secured to the collar 33, which is integral with casing 10, by means of a set screw 34.

\Vhile the present invention is particularly adapted for use as a pick counter, it

'is apparent that it may be used for other purposes where it is desired that rotations or movements may be counted in two portions, the aggregate of which represents the total number of movements or rotations to be counted, those of one counting mechanism indicating a certain form or condition of use of the machine, and those of the other counting' mechanism indicating another form or condition of use of the machine. So, therefore, the use of the expression pick counter in this specification and in the claims is not to be regarded as language of limitation,

' but as language of description, and any use to which the apparatus may be put is within.

the purview of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is: w

1. In a counting mechanism,fthc combination of a pair of counters; a drive shaft; a sleeve attached thereto a driving element common to both counters and eccentrically related to said sleeve; and means for rotating said sleeve to shift the driving element out of driving relation to either counter into driving relation to the other.

2. In a counting mechanism, the combination of a pair of counters, each having an operating gear associated with it; a drive shaft; a sleeve attached to said shaft a gear disposed between the two operating gears and eccentrically related to the sleeve; and means .for rotating said sleeve to shift its gear out of engagement with one operating gear into engagement with the other.

3. A pick counter for looms having, in com- 'hination, a casing, a night counting mechanism and a day counting mechanism both mounted in the casing, a driving shaft supported in the casing adapted to be connected with and driven by a rotating shaft of the loom, connecting gearing for transmitting rotations of the driving shaft to either the one or the other of the counting mechanisms, and means independent of the actuation of the driving shaft for changing the arrangement of the connecting gearing to cause the rotations of the driving shaft to be transmitted to either the night or the day counting mechanism.

ALBERT 'H. MORTON. 

